Tipping the Scales - Are Mine Workers Fit for Work?

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Tipping the Scales - Are Mine Workers Fit for Work?

Attitudes towards mine site health and fitness are changing. More and more we are alerted to the stresses, demands and temptations of the FIFO mining lifestyle. Mine workers are exhausted after a 12 hour day, consuming fast food, alcohol, and sugary drinks and are too tired to work out.

What has been the impact of this transitory lifestyle? Well – it has become clear that for mine workers some of the most dangerous health and safety risks are not located on or exclusive to the mine site itself.

Mining makes harsher physical demands on workers than most industries, making it easier for worker to fall into bad habits and unhealthy routines and this is exacerbated by the FIFO lifestyle which gives workers access to cheap alcohol, and readymade camp meals (often high in sugar or cholesterol). It’s hard to actually attribute responsibility for the problem to any one cause and, unfortunately, most current mine sites rely on the mine workers taking control of their own lifestyles and making good decisions after working a long and tiring shift.

Are Mine Workers Culpable?

Mining IQ recently started a discussion on LinkedIn asking members to comment on the programs that companies have put into place to mitigate this health risk and how successful they have been. We had an interesting response from the marketplace and wanted to share some of the insights with both our members and the wider mining audience.

Comments shared were fairly illuminating and included:

“I have worked on four sites in WA in the last 7 years and have yet to see any education on healthy eating”

“I think the chefs and the cooks need to be educated as the healthy options supplied are often not healthy at all (in butter, covered in cheese, deep fried etc)”

“We are aware of healthy eating but don’t adopt the process of doing so”

“We don’t really get offered healthy eating options so we continue to fall into the same traps…”

…and so on.

As recent article on Australian Mining mirrored this challenge by stating that “three in four workers in the mining industry are overweight” further adding weight to the argument by stating that “the unhealthy lifestyle habits of many miners are contributing to the development of a range of chronic diseases.”

So – where to from here for Mine Workers?

Companies like Rio Tinto have launched a health awareness program stating that they want their workers to make healthy behaviour part of their daily lifestyle. This would certainly be welcomed by mine workers who commented in the recent Mining IQ LinkedIn discussion that “I’d like to see the mining companies invest and spend more money with the catering companies to enable healthier options for us in the future”. Furthermore, contributors commented that “the mining companies really need to get more involved in what’s happening in their camps”.

However – it isn’t a one-way street.

Contributors to the discussion also admitted that they need to voice their concerns more actively and openly to really invoke change. And therein lies the problem – accountability for worker’s health falls largely on the decisions of the workers – however if the options available are not ‘healthy’ by and large then it becomes a perpetuating problem with no clear resolution. And if the worker’s aren’t speaking up – because they are too tired or have crashed from their latest fast food sugar rush – the problem will simply continue to simmer but maybe never reach the boil.

A tipping point could be ahead – but who will push for that final tip remains yet to be seen.